First picture of film-maker who has enraged the Muslim world with a controversial movie ‒ and the terrified actress he duped into taking a starring role

Seen with a young actress who is now living in fear for her life, this is the first picture of the man said to be behind the anti-Islam movie that has triggered violence across the Middle East.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula – also known as Sam Bacile – was last week named by the FBI as the film-maker responsible for Innocence Of Muslims, which ridicules the prophet Muhammad.

The Mail on Sunday has exclusively obtained this on-set image of him with the film’s star Anna Gurji, who says she was duped by the 55-year-old director.Nakoula is an Egyptian-born Coptic Christian. Now living in California, he is a convicted drug dealer and conman who was last released from jail in June last year.

The film has ignited anti-US clashes from Morocco to Malaysia.In California, 21-year-old Ms Gurji, who plays Muhammad’s child bride, spoke yesterday of her fear of reprisals and how she was ‘betrayed’ by Nakoula. ‘I was playing the youngest bride of a character named George,’ she said. ‘I had no idea George would be changed to Muhammad. I’m locked up in my house. I’m terrified people in the Middle East will blame me. 

‘I’m Catholic so they might think I have something against Muslims. I’m taking pills to sleep. I’ve been crying for days. I feel betrayed. My face is stuck on the movie clip. People see that awful film and they see me.’Ms Gurji said she and her fellow actors believed they were making an action film called Desert Warrior and that Nakoula, or ‘Sam’ as she knew him, never discussed religion.

‘I was told I was to be Hilary, the young bride of a character called George,’ she said. ‘The film was about a comet that falls to Earth in the ancient Middle East. There are different tribes who think the comet is somehow holy and fight over it. There were supposed to be lots of special effects so a lot of the filming was in front of a green screen. It was super low-budget. I was getting $75 [£50] a day and all my scenes were shot with George against the green screen. I had no idea how it would be twisted.

‘Maybe I’m naive but no warning bells went off. I auditioned, showed up and did my lines. None of us involved in it had any idea there was a secret agenda.’